TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s navy wants to buy its first oil tanker to carry fuel to Okinawa as it cranks up operations in the East China Sea to counter a growing Chinese naval presence. The Maritime Self Defence Forces needs a tanker able to carry 300,000 barrels of fuel to White Beach port on Okinawa where it stores fuel for warships that patrol the region. The plan will be included in a defence review outlining equipment procurement for the five years beginning April 2019. Japan and China are locked in a territorial dispute over the ownership of a group of islands claimed as Senkaku in Tokyo and Diaoyu in Beijing.

• Tags: East China, Japan, oil tanker, Okinawa, Senkaku, warships